A success story

Monday

Jan 16, 2017 at 12:01 AMJan 16, 2017 at 1:32 PM

Editor’s note: This week’s Focus continues today with one company’s success using the Coordinated Health Care (CHC) BetterCare. The program takes healthcare to the workplace to cut down on costs to workers and to employers for lost time because of health issues.

ASHEBORO — The CHC (Coordinated Health Care) BetterCare program through Randolph Health (formerly Randolph Hospital) is growing in popularity with local businesses and industries.

Just ask Asheboro Elastics Corp. with its 260 employees in Asheboro and Boykin, Va. AEC launched in 1986, and by the early 2000s, founder and president, the late Keith Crisco, transformed AEC into a family-owned company, successfully addressing core business in the apparel industry and developing narrow fabrics for new markets.

AEC started its wellness program in partnership with CHC locally in 2009 and added the Boykin facility in late 2016. Since joining forces with CHC, the company has seen absenteeism reduced and employees’ overall health improved. Today, a nurse practitioner visits the plant two days a week and offers a near-site clinic at its CHC BetterCare facility on Salisbury Street.

Advantages for both

Barbara Corum is the plant manager at AEC’s Yzex Street location.

She sings the praises of the program, not only for herself but for all of AEC’s employees. Issues such as missing work to go to a doctor’s appointment, absenteeism being held against you, even middle-of-the-night emergency visits (which are almost non-existent, she says) have all but disappeared. Lower co-pays and almost no medication costs are additional incentives for employees.

“Not only do you not have to pay for visits, but you are not losing money to do it,” she said. “Even if you are just getting your blood pressure checked, it’s easy to make an appointment and go see the nurse practitioner without missing work.”

Kris Potter is the Human Resources manager at AEC.

“Employees have a lower co-pay as well,” he said. “We offer two tiers of insurance — basic and the plus plan. Employees can also opt to have their family covered under this program.”

“Through the wellness program, participating employees (approximately 99 percent of AEC’s employees participate in the program) have blood drawn annually,” Corum added. “The blood work is done in the employee’s birth month and then they get a report card with the results. Because of this bloodwork and the results, three of our employees had cancer and one had cirrhosis of the liver. One of those has since had surgery and has gone back to work. She is nothing but a success story!

“If you had to pay for your bloodwork, or missed hours at work to do it, you might have put off having it done and it would have been too late.”

Corum said that every employee at AEC could probably tell a personal story about the healthcare offered through CHC.

“Everybody has a story or experience that they could share,” she said. “If we don’t have healthy employees, we can’t do our jobs. They are here every day. They all come to work. We have a lot of benefits at AEC and by far, this is our best benefit.

“Anybody that doesn’t take advantage (of this program) — it’s their loss.”

From personal experience

Wendel Lamason is the executive director of CHC BetterCare program.

“If you compare AEC, they are a benchmark for other industries,” he said. “Their employees are healthier, at work more, and there is no problem with absenteeism.”

“The company wins and the employees win,” Lamason said. “These employees have the culture of wellness instilled in them now. It took some time, but the benefits are now.

“It is so hard to see at the beginning, but there are so many positives to this program.”

Potter said that AEC modeled the Boykin plant’s program as a mirror to the one used in Asheboro.

“It has been very well received,” he said. “The employees are going to the doctor and getting their medications now. We partnered with a local pharmacy and they deliver prescriptions to the site (plant).”

Potter has his own personal experience dealing with CHC at AEC, and claims that it is the best program with which he has been affiliated.

“Talk about convenience, I had just walked in the door one morning and noticed some stiffness in my calf and my right leg was swollen,” he said. “I thought, ‘I bet I have a blood clot,’ and our nurse practitioner said, ‘I think you’re right.’

“I live in Burlington, so decided to go to my doctor there. He said that I had edema so I decided to get a second opinion. I came back and our nurse practitioner had called the hospital about doing an ultrasound. By the time I got back in the car after the untrasound, she was calling me to tell me that I had three blood clots in my leg. That shows you how good the relationship is between CHC and the hospital. She was signing my prescription from my doctor for medication when I walked back through the door.”

“We are all about guiding them to where they can get the best health care,” Lamason added.

Bryan Spivey is the client relations manager for CHC BetterCare.

“When Keith Crisco was here, he said, ‘Here’s your budget for healthcare’ and the employees bought into it, mainly because of Keith. He cared about his employees. CHC was offering this program five years before Obamacare. Bottom line is that we are not trying to interfere with someone’s primary care, we’re just trying to offer healthcare.”

Spivey added that AEC has also led the charge in North Carolina.

“This is a mature case, it takes time to get to this point, but you can see how successful it has been.”

Spivey also encourages other businesses to check out CHC BetterCare.

“If they get on board, they have no idea of how many dollars they can save, how many more jobs can be created with those savings — it could be an economic boom for this county.”

How does it work?

The Coordinated Health Care BetterCare program provides coordination of pathways to specialists and care for a businesses’ employees, and appropriate health solutions for each business.